Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Reported To Ban Soy Out Of Fear That It Leads To Gay Sex

The chief rabbi of an extreme group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews has reportedly banned students at the sect’s yeshiva, or religious school, from eating soy because it leads to gay sex.

The rationale on which Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter (pictured), head of Israel’s Gur sect of Hasidic Jews, based his reported ruling is the widespread belief that soy consumption can lead to unusual breast development in males.

Of course, a man would need to consume huge amounts of soy over a prolonged period to notice this effect at all. But even a slight worry is too much for this sect, which is notoriously hung up about all matters to do with sex.

According to a lengthy report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, the Gur keep sexes strictly separated. Even husbands and wives are forbidden from showing physical or emotional affection for each other and the number of times they may have conjugal relations is strictly regulated.

Gur rabbis are said to be extremely wary that soy products could cause male students to develop feminine body characteristics, which in turn would cause other male students to become sexually attracted to them.

Though the Gur aversion to sexual activity or any sort of physical affection is well-documented, some have disputed whether the latest report of the soy ban is accurate.

Rabbi Eliyahu Fink of Pacific Jewish Center in Venice, Calif., wrote on his blog that the story is just unsubstantiated rumor.

“A friend of mine called a friend with family in Gur in Israel and asked them about this story. The source said that this was a recycled story,” wrote Fink.

According to Fink’s friend of a friend with family in Gur — which it should be noted could also be described as rather tenuous sourcing — the story dates from “ten years ago, when research showed that estrogen-like chemicals in soy may be responsible for early puberty in children (studies which have since been disproved) and [Gur] schools took soy products off their menu.”

Not exactly a total refutation of the story, but there are always two sides, even to the great gay soy exposé.